Northbound on Ningaloo

Departing Waroora on a stiff easterly, we were rugged up and looking forward to breaking from the cold snap that we had been experiencing over the past few weeks. To put that in context, cold nights and mornings… boardies and bikinis the rest of the day!!

Graham, on Kome Over, a Roberts monohull was a few minutes ahead of us, also heading north. Once we were safely out of the channel, we turned into wind and hoisted our main, the choppy conditions making it somewhat tricky. We were soon underway with main and jib in about 17 knots of apparent wind from the SE.

Our original plan was to stop in Norwegian Bay, but if we could make enough miles then we were keen to get around to the Point Billie area, as the forecast was showing some stiff north easterlies over the next few days.

A pretty uneventful sail, with the usual whale action close by, although once we passed Coral Bay we were probably five miles west of the reef and so not as many were sighted. The whales tend to stick close to the contours of the reef and certainly, as you get further up the coast, they seem to hug it.

We had good wind until almost reaching Norwegian Bay and then it became a bit fluky. We were running one engine with main and jib, it being too fickle for the larger screecher sail. Our timing was pretty good and we worked out that we could be at Point Billie by about 4.45pm, giving us plenty of time to come inside the reef and find some anchorage. By this time we had left Kome Over in our wake a few miles to the south, but we knew Graham was planning to head through to Yardie.

In no time, we were coming around past South Lefroy and then into the passage that leads inside the reef. We knew from last year that there are a few big bommies in this area, so careful navigation and lookout was a priority as we entered. The swell was pretty much zero – which you might think is a good thing – but we actually prefer a little swell as this shows where the reef is. With no swell, you can’t really distinguish exactly where it is which can be hazardous! Rather than head all the way back up to South Lefroy, about 3 miles, we just headed in towards the beach just north of Point Billie until we found a nice sandy hole. First time around the anchor didn’t stick – turned out it had turned itself inside out with the chain; but the second attempt was good and we were settled for the night. We had travelled about 54 nm today, leaving about 12 miles to the entry point to Yardie Creek.

We awoke to a north easterly as forecast and as soon as we had enough sun we backtracked out of our anchorage and back to the passage, from which we turned north for Yardie Creek. We had the mainsail up but the wind angle was becoming tighter by the minute so it was motors on again to get us to Boat Passage at Yardie.

In a few short hours, we were back in familiar territory again, having been in and out of Yardie half a dozen times last season. Once inside, we carefully navigated north towards the camping area, but as we got closer we decided we would anchor out on the reef. We were expecting a little bit of breeze in the mornings but nothing too serious and figured we would enjoy the nice sunny afternoons out on the reef, albeit just for a few days before we headed to Exmouth.

We spent a pleasant couple of days here, again the swell was almost zero, in fact we hadn’t seen it so small. We did the obligatory walk up to the gorge, dropped some garbage at the rubbish facility and had an unsuccessful snorkel at low tide (big, spring tides) around the surf break (poor vis!).

Monday July 3rd, we were up early with an early high tide and heading for the passage out of the reef. Graham, in Kome Over, had been further north of us but was also heading out from his position and after chatting on the radio we both arrived at the passage at the same time.

We had a light south easterly, so went straight for the screecher – no mainsail - with an eye on getting Shrek up for a lightwind run north. Graham had gone straight for the spinnaker and it wasn’t long before we had dragged Shrek up from below and had him set up ready to hoist.

Sun was out, it was warm and balmy and soon we were flying Shrek and making about 4.5knts north. We used to worry about always making 6 knots, but on days like this on a light downwind sail, spinnaker up, whales everywhere what was not to be enjoyed! Nicky was on the tramp reading a book and I was sitting on the cabin roof with the binos eyeing off Cape Range and whale watching!

We had initially planned Tantabiddi, but figured if we could get a bit closer we would take the opportunity to make some more miles. We had booked a berth on the end of the T jetty in Exmouth for a couple of nights from Tuesday night, so we needed a stopover somewhere. With a small swell, we figured we would try and stop at Dunes, which is just before the tip of Northwest Cape.

After a few pleasant hours, the wind died completely and it was glassy. As we approached Tantabiddi there were charter boats, fishing boats, dinghies, whales, dolphins, people snorkelling… everything was a bit chaotic for a few miles!

We pushed on to Dunes, arriving with no swell, however knowing that a big swell was pushing through the next day. Our plan was to jump on one of the DPIRD day moorings, but we ended up with the old wind vs tide scenario. There wasn’t enough wind to counter the tide and so we just kept going in circles and pulling the mooring buoy into the boat, with the mooring line going under the keel and between the sail drives etc. Annoying!!

It took about 30 minutes of this and we said enough is enough, untied and headed for the marina. We had enough time to get around the Cape before sunset so we headed off, aided by three knots of tidal current in our favour! We had pulled out burgers for dinner and so in light conditions we were cooking burgers on the bbq, chatting to Kalani on the phone and feeling quite relaxed as we steamed down the eastern side of the gulf enroute to the marina.

It ended up being a 65+ mile day and we arrived in the marina at about 8pm. We had our fingers crossed that our berth was free and that it was. Turned out we were between Solitaire and Chasing Eden, so both of those crews were on hand to help us squeeze in alongside.

Arriving Monday night, we were due to leave Friday morning for Serrurier Island, so we had three days to get all of our chores done. Sounds like plenty of time, but we knew we would still be pushing to get through everything.

So, the next few days consisted off medical appointments, post office, library for printing, boat wash and detail, refuel, rewater, provision food and alcohol, hardware for some odd assortments and the tackle shop for a new rod for Nicky and a couple of assorted items.

Fortunately, we found Mia Nesbit, who is having a gap year and working in Exmouth and persuaded her to lend us her car for the day whilst she was at work. The marina is about a 40 minute brisk walk from the centre of town – that’s if you are are not loaded up with your shopping – so a car is pretty much essential as there is no public transport. So, Wednesday it was on… we walked into town to pick up the car and then no less than eight times did we go back and forth to the marina – washing, fuel, hardware, stores etc etc. Each trip back to the marina then also involves parking the car, swipe card into the jetty and then a walk right to the end of the ‘T’ where we are berthed, then shoes off, climb onto the boat and stow your goods. Fortunately, there is a cart here, so you can load that up with your shopping and get it all in one go…. until you realise you have left a few items in the boot so back you go!! Then back into town, drop the car off and walk back to the marina!

Having been on the seafood diet, it was also nice to be able to have a few different food choices on the bbq – steak, chicken and pork chops just for a change!!

Being on the end of the T jetty, there is always plenty of activity with the boat ramp adjacent to our position, so all manner of craft are coming and going, including large work and charter boats.  This makes for some entertainment late in the day as everyone returns and mills around waiting for their turn on the ramp. A good opportunity for a quick chat about what fish were caught and how the day went..

Our location in the marina also allows you to meet or catch up with old and new friends and this was the case here, where there was always someone to say Hi to and catch up on news of their travels.

With all of our jobs done, we treated ourselves to one drink at the Manta Rays resort, located adjacent to the marina. Only one drink as the round of two drinks, being a Ginger beer and a glass of house red was $28!! Too much for us stingy cruisers… ha ha.

It would be remiss of me not to comment on the facilities for cruisers/pen users at the marina. Being the only marina between Carnarvon (the commercial harbour) and Darwin (yes Darwin!) it attracts a lot of use by cruisers in both yachts and powercraft (aka stinkboats); and of course it is at the doorstep of the world-renowned Ningaloo World Heritage area. Part of the deal is the provision of toilet and shower facilities, as you are alongside and therefore not wanting wastewater etc to be dumped. The toilet/shower block here is like something from East Berlin in the 1970’s! We consider ourselves pretty hardy and somewhat relaxed about these things, but it took a few days before we even considered using it. Pretty poor considering the location. Apart from Carnarvon, which is brand new, it is a bit typical of the DOT facilities along the coast. In saying that, the girls in the DOT office are awesome and can’t do enough for you. O.K rant over…..

We were excited to be heading north into new territory with the next stop being Serrurier Island about 36miles to the north east of Exmouth, enroute to the Montebello Islands.